Candlelighters to celebrate children’s cancer heroes

John Ledger

Yorkshire charity Candlelighters is hosting its first ever annual awards ceremony to celebrate the people and organisations who made a big difference to the fight against childhood cancer and leukemia in the county.

The awards will be presented at a dinner at Elland Road, Leeds, on September 9 and Candlelighters are inviting the public to nominate the heroes whose efforts and energy have made a difference to the young people and their families whose lives have been affected by cancer in the last year.

Founded in 1976, Candlelighters provides support to children with cancer and their families across Yorkshire. Their work includes funding equipment on hospital wards, supporting families and finding research.

Last year Candlelighters opened The Square, a new centre which offers all members of the family support, from talking therapies to wellbeing treatments such as massage and reflexology. The Square also runs specialist groups for grandparents and brothers and sisters.

Candlelighters’ fundraising manager Kate Goldring said: “It’s wonderful to be able to take the time to celebrate all that has been achieved over the last year and indeed over our 40-year history.

“We couldn’t do what we do without the support of many very special people across our region. I really hope the people of Yorkshire will get behind us as a local charity, investing in our region, by making their nominations, purchasing tickets for the event and also sponsoring each award.”

The ceremony will feature nine main awards, including Above and Beyond Effort of the Year, Young Fundraiser of the Year, Fundraiser of the Year and Weird and Wonderful Idea of the Year.

The awards are sponsored by Leeds-based communications agency Vista, whose Director of Operations William Sutton said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the very first Candlelighters Awards, and are looking forward to seeing nominations flood in. We want to help Candlelighters raise the profile of children’s cancer so that they can speed up progress in research, funding and treatment.

“We’re thrilled to be the event partner for the awards, taking care of all the production with our specialist in-house event management services, and plans are already well underway for a day to remember.”